He's currently working on Data East Star Trek. The man is an absolute legend.

I agree though with both of those additions - or at least having the option of playing the video mode.

The only thing I can think is that the video mode is incompatible with the ColorDMD because it was never colored. I know ColorDMD compatibility was an emphasis for him when he was writing the updated versions.

He actually showed a video of it working. Hopefully he comes back to this. We should start a go fund me to lure him back

Thought you may be interested in this piece of DIY.

I had the board off today to put in a NVRAM on and took the opportunity to share with you all.

I have owned the machine since 1997 and this was done before that. Clearly a sicnificant warm patch. Repair this way possibly necessitated by scarcity/price of part in NZ at that time.

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So now needing your help.... The board has gone back in and the NVRAM seems to be working... However on start up I get the initial "May the Force" and then no sound at all no music, no call outs... Where to look first?

Update - I finally fitted the new one

It's actually pretty cool having it move again.

Trying to finish up the top end of the playfield and realized I didn't take a picture of where this little wireform came from, looked through the images and came up empty, any SW owners have any idea where this goes?

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That part goes in front of the double #44/#47 lamp cover that light-up R2D2.
It is to prevent the ball from getting stuck in front of the lamps.
You should see where the 6-32 screw is on the clear plastic, next to the metal ramp.
That is where the round loop on the metal is mounted... the straight part should
be in front of the lamps.

Thank you vec-tor! Still finishing up some stuff under the playfield and should get to the top in the next few days, I should be able to figure that out from your description, thanks you very much !

Make sure you put the rubber on the R2D2 shaft before closing it up

Ah, thanks for the tip, I attached a pic, you mean a rubber sleeve goes on the shaft I have circled?

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For the record - I opened up the motor, cogs were all pretty clean. There was a bit of sticky gunk where the shaft entered the casing. Gave everything a good clean. Re-assembled. So much quieter - cant hear it with the glass on.

Yup, that’s the one. I assembled everything and was trying to figure it out. Once I did, had to painfully tear it down and put it on. But good to go now

That's a neat after thought mod.

Was there ever an update that enabled the speeder bike mode? Always thought that was kind of wonky that it didn’t work.

I just use the plunger fire botton and it skips it pretty quick.

I thought I read that one of the latest code ROMs had it working but maybe I misunderstood.

It can work, it’s just not coded. ChadH discovered it while writing the 1.07 code.

The rumor is Data East made it and had to remove it because Williams had the rights to Video Mode and sued them

This is what is looks like

Wow, never knew that. I thought it was just a clip so you could grab your beer for a quick break.

I really hope he can get this into the code at some point. Seems like he was granted permission to really improve the game any way possible so let make it work since it is still in the game.

Yeah I’ve mentioned a go fund me as well. But it’s really up to ChadH

No pressure

He has a go fund me for this?

There's a donate button on his website:

www.pinballcode.com

I've made a couple of donations myself.

Not specifically for this. I suggested it. I’d pay into it no doubt

I’m thinking about getting another one of these but I would be willing to donate if he would agree to work on it.

Data East Star Wars had three types of video modes in the game.
1) laser fight.
2) trough shot.
3) speeder bike.
All gone.

Never saw the other two, what did they involve?

You think it’s feasible for Chad to get them back in?

Huh ?

Do you mean the laser fight with the stormtroopers ? And the skill/launch shot to hit a tie fighter ? Last time I played my game they were still there

I was aware of these but thought he was refering to something else since they are still there and he claims they are gone.

1) lightsabor fight animation is in Jedi returns.
---It was like Fight mode in LW3.
---You slapped the flipper buttons.
--- Chicken fight in "Family Guy" is the finished code.
2) The trough shot.
--- The animation is in the display.
--- You moved your fighter up & down
--- avoid cross bridges ( not used ).
--- Shoot the exhaust hole. bits of the animation are there.
"You think it’s feasible for Chad to get them back in?"
The game needs more rom space...
All I could say in the long run, is that coding a pinball machine is time consuming work.
Long hours, lots of testing, many oops!, etc,etc,etc.

Interesting, so trough shots kind of sounds like a video mode based off part of the Atari Star Wars arcade.

We need to reach out to Chad and see how much $$$$ he needs to make this happen, the guy is really good at what he does. All boils down to time and money!

Yup, I’d pitch in to see it as well. Don’t want to harass him but maybe one person here DM him and see?

He ever drop in this thread?

Here ya go... Easter egg time...
1) Use either flipper button to chose Yoda feature
--- Use both flippers to defeat Darth Vader in Lightsabor round.

Don’t have the game anymore but am currently looking for one.

You able to post a video of this?

Find someone that can video the Jedi return feature and watch the display...
It is like the video mode... a quick animation sequence... that is it.
Data East Star Wars... The game that should have, could have, and would have
if it wasn't for big willy waging it's finger. The only production Data East
pinball game with out a "coming soon promo".

Alright wolfemaaan fire it up and shoot a vid! Lol

I don’t think I ever saw this when I had it.

At what point of the game can you do this? Or was this supposed to be in but removed?

I’m not familiar with being able to select Yoda Feature

Well, I vaguely recall having to hit a shot when yoda is lit on pf and then hit the force scoop maybe????

Can’t remember exactly but there is a time where you select yoda but wasn’t aware of this Easter egg that you do when this happens.

wolfemaaan

Yoda feature is their... chose lift are right award.
I believe "Jedi Return" is from one of the "Force" awards.
Easter egg time...
R2D2 Runaway = 15 Million
Super R2D2 = 50 Million
Super Duper R2D2 = 90 Million [not used] junk code, just a bit of snippets.
----------------
Playfield change... A round clear starburst lens removed from the left
--- kick-out hole below the Jedi arrow lamp #41.
--- Again, too many ideas had to be cut.
--- The agony of having only 64 lamps.
--- I hope to get a CPR playfield and have the lens added back.
Note of interest: Data East Star Wars is like Data East TMNT for award features.

know anything else about the missing modes as listed on the apron stickers?

Just the two other video modes.
One of course is the speeder mode...
The other is the Death Star trough run mode.
Their are other awards/features that got cut
to the games rules set... etc,etc,etc.
The game needs more rom space...

Very true! The original ROM I worked off of only had about 500 bytes of free space. That's one half of one kilobyte. I packed as much as I could in there for my updates.

Although, since Star Wars was my first venture into the code update world, I have done several more games and I have since learned a lot more details about how everything works. I could probably squeeze even more in if I basically looked at my notes and started over. I may do this someday.

I appreciate the talks of gofundme's but I would never do that. This is all about a fun hobby in our free time. If someone wants to send over a donation after the fact, then that is much appreciated.

While I have seen the code and video assets for the Speeder Bike video mode, I have not yet found any thing for a Death Star Trench run (other than the instruction references on the prototype aprons) or a Luke/Vader Light Saber battle (again, other than the reference on the prototype aprons). I suppose the video animation played of Luke/Vader battling while hitting a shot in Jedi Returns mode might have originally been from this missing mode?

Has anyone else actually seen playable versions of these two elusive video modes? Or were they scrapped early on and never saw the light of day?

Does anyone have a prototype ROM with these modes in them? If so, PM me and I can try to make it happen.

If you could get any of these working it would really breathe some new life into an already underrated game.

Maybe hit up Borg himself?

Otherwise I’ll put out a Wanted on Pinside

By the way, the early rom I have has Jabba saying “Pinball Ha Ha Ha” instead of just “ Pinball” when you hit the start button with no credits. This seems to have been removed in later revisions

I have Chads ROM revision in mine and "Pinball Ha Ha Ha" is def in there during gameplay. Always makes me laugh.

I have it on Freeplay so no idea what happens with start button / no credits.

Mine says Pinball Ha Ha Ha. So does version 1.03. I didn't touch that.

Little known trivia... it says Pinball Ha Ha Ha for the first three Start button presses. Then on the fourth it has Vader saying You Have Failed Me For The Last Time. And then from there on out, it is silent. You have failed!

Any idea where these apparent video modes trench run and light saber battle were to be implemented in the game?

Are there any hidden eggs still in the code that are sort of like placeholders for these?

This latest discussion this week is the first I've heard of them.

With the playfield as it is I'm guessing it would be a Force award ? Seeing that you need the ball to be held up whilst you do the video mode.